BGSU women’s soccer (5-1-1) hosted the Duquesne Dukes (4-2-0) at Cochrane Stadium on Sunday, winning the contest 1-0 and closing out non-conference play.
Duquesne came into the game having scored sixteen goals across their first five contests. BG held them scoreless, mainly due to four saves by sophomore goalkeeper Payton O’Malley and some elite defense from the BG backline.
Defense has been the Falcons’ strong suit all season; they came into today’s contest having allowed only four goals in their first six contests.
BG also did well at defending Duquesne corner kicks, successfully clearing all five attempts.
Junior defender Taylor Green and sophomore defender Haley Wolf made consistent defensive plays, as did redshirt-freshman midfielder Minah Syam off the bench.
In the 27th minute, junior forward Emma Stransky scored on a header with an assist from Wolf. In the 31st minute, she dribbled to the box and nearly scored again.
“It comes down to mindset,” Stransky said. “We were up 1-0, but we’re still going to treat it like a 0-0 game.”
The game was energetic, with plenty of back-and-forth action. But Bowling Green’s airtight defense helped to anchor the game and take some pressure off of the Falcons’ frontline.
“At practice, we talk about solutions for what teams might throw at us, and we changed our formation once we realized they were putting more pressure on us,” Green said.
In the second half, junior defender Gabby Lamparty made a defensive play in the box to set up a save for O’Malley. A few minutes later, Green blocked yet another shot. Even though the Duquesne offense got more aggressive in the second half, the defense held firm.
“Duquesne, as expected, made a few adjustments,” head coach Chris Fox said. “But the overall bravery and desire shown from our group was just awesome to see.”
The Falcons will be back in action at Cochrane Stadium on Sunday, Sept. 14 at 1:00 p.m. against the Kent State Golden Flashes to open up Mid-American Conference (MAC) play. Full coverage can be found at bgfalconmedia.com and at WBGU-PBS Youtube channel.
